First and foremost, you’ll always be looked after here. Furthermore, the conversation with your coach will almost always be one of pulling back the reigns from load and intensity towards skill and quality.
That being said, I want to open the flood gates a bit on a limited perspective in the gym that occurs when athletes need complete certainty on the outcomes of their workouts. Do me and your fitness a favor. Trust your coach and his or her interpretation of the context of the day’s training. When he or she is encouraging you to choose a weight or style of movement that allows for a challenging set of five reps, for example, buy in to that very specific instruction, especially if you’re generally inexperienced.
To use a simple example, if the workout call for three rounds of a 400m run and twelve power cleans, and your coach says you should choose a weight that you could do 3-4 reps in a row of, refrain from arm chair quarterbacking your way to account for the fact that each round has not three or four reps, but twelve. We’ve got specific things in mind here, and you’re commitment is key to the success of the program.
The root cause of much of this when it shows up is uncertainty. “But, I don’t know if I can do twelve!,” is a common rebuttal to the context I mentioned above. To which I’d say, “Have no fear, champ, because I’m only concerned about what I said.. three or four reps. Trust me.” Not only does this help capture the stimulus we’re looking for, it’s just damn good for you to face some uncertainty every now and then and continue into the fight anyway.
Plus, the path of least resistance is generally more boring and has lower return on investment. Buy in!
Logan Gelbrich
@functionalcoach
10/5/15 WOD
5-5-5-5-5
Deadlift
Complete 3 rounds for time of:
30 Kettle Bell Swings (53/35)
10 Pullups
400m Run